A tragic incident occurred on September 14 in Grande-Pointe-aux-Piments, Mauritius, where a 12-year-old boy, Hugue Kennan Martin, fell from a moving school bus and later died in intensive care on September 17. CCTV footage recovered by police shows that the vehicle's emergency door swung open as the bus took a bend, and the boy fell into the road. The images, pulled together by the police IT unit, reveal that another pupil had already left the seat beside that door after noticing it shift while the bus was moving.
The bus, an Ashok Leyland registered 8990 DC 14, was operated by Triolet Bus Service. Police at Trou-aux-Biches are still investigating the incident, which has raised questions about the safety of school buses in Mauritius. The footage answers how the incident occurred, but the harder question is why a door a child could see was loose was still carrying pupils. An ambulance rushed Kennan to the northern hospital, where he spent days in a coma on a ventilator before succumbing to his injuries.
In a separate incident, police in Mauritius have arrested three men for allegedly using a public sewage plant to store, weigh, and package cannabis. The Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit searched a wastewater treatment plant at Balisson, Rose-Belle, on September 18 and found evidence of the gang's activities. The alleged central figure is Jérémie Patrice Siave, 33, a supervisor at the treatment company itself. One suspect told police he had bought cannabis from Siave for Rs 2,500 a time.
Chief Justice Rehana Mungly-Gulbul has warned 41 new lawyers in Mauritius not to rely on artificial intelligence (AI) blindly. During their oath-taking ceremony in Port Louis, she cautioned that AI should be used as a starting point, not as an authority to cite in court. This warning comes as courts worldwide have sanctioned lawyers who filed citations invented by AI that turned out not to exist.
In Rodrigues, tourism is the engine of the economy, and Richard Duval wants the island to invest in people to guard its tourism future. His pitch is skills first: train young Rodriguans in hospitality and service so the sector can grow without shedding the character that pulls visitors in the first place. This move aims to ensure that tourism development benefits the local population and preserves the island's unique charm.
A pharmacy in Flacq, Mauritius, is reportedly still selling medicine despite having its operating license revoked by regulators. The pharmacy's continued operation has raised questions about the effectiveness of regulatory enforcement in Mauritius. It is unclear how a business ordered to shut can continue dispensing drugs, highlighting a potential weakness in the system.
In international news, Guinea has lost Sidya Toure, an opposition voice that outlasted the crackdowns, who died in Paris at 81. French President Macron and Pope Leo XIV have also found common ground on the dangers of AI, warning that the most powerful technologies humans have built could slip into the hands of a few or become tools of control.
Key points
- Police investigate school bus incident in Mauritius
- Mauritius pharmacy operates despite revoked license
- Guinea loses opposition figure Sidya Toure
